Andy Roddick was surprised with Novak Djokovic’s comments after he lost the Shanghai Masters final.
The Masters 1000 event was an encouraging one for the Serbian, who defeated the likes of teenager sensation Jakub Mensik and American number one Taylor Fritz to reach the championship match.
Sunday’s match against Jannik Sinner was Djokovic’s attempt to join Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors on the list of players to win 100 ATP titles or more.
But Sinner, who is enjoying the best season of his career, was too strong for the 24-time Grand Slam champion and secured his seventh title of 2024 with a 7-6, 6-3 win.
What did Novak Djokovic say after the Shanghai Masters that ‘struck’ Andy Roddick?
Following Sunday’s defeat Novak Djokovic was asked about his 2024 season, which has fallen significantly below his very high standards.
He has claimed just one title, but because it was the Olympic gold medal, the one he wanted most, the 37-year-old took the rational approach and seemed content with what he had achieved this year.
His mindset surprised Andy Roddick, who argued that Djokovic’s year of an Olympic title, a Grand Slam final and Masters 1000 runner-up appearance would be considered a great season for most of the players on the ATP Tour.
“I was struck by his press conference afterwards when someone asked about the negative results. His take was completely rational,” Roddick said on his ‘Served’ podcast. “In a world where we train ourselves, and especially the great ones, train themselves to be irrational at times.
“He was like this was my worst performing year for some time, it was bound to happen at some point, I’m still happy with my gold medal by the way. But let’s think about this just for a second.
“His worst performing year ever he made the semi-finals of Australia, the finals of Wimbledon, won Olympic gold, finals of Masters 1000. That’s a career year for most of us. I thought it was completely rational. It is coming at some time. He’s not 30 any more and there’s two monsters ahead of him. It was a crazy impressive week.”
Novak Djokovic will keep striving for 100th title after Shanghai Masters final defeat
Djokovic fell just short of his quest to become the third player to win 100 or more titles on the ATP Tour.
Sinner controlled the first set tiebreak and he secured one break if served in set two to secure victory. Djokovic did not earn a break point in Sunday’s Shanghai final.
There are not many goals left for Djokovic at this stage of his career, but he does want to win a 100th title, even if the desire is not as strong as wanting to become Olympic champion in July.
“I have got to keep striving to make it happen somewhere in the near future,” Djokovic said. “It’s not a live-or-die type of goal for me, I think I’ve achieved all of my biggest goals in my career.
“Right now it’s really about Slams and about seeing how far I can kind of push the bar for myself.”
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